Readers react to Planned Parenthood, abandoned animals and Obamacare

Planned Parenthood

Even though Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas do not accept fetal tissue, Gov. Sam Brownback launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood. Brownback is staunchly opposed to abortion, so this is merely another effort to close down Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas.

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Abandoned animals

To the uncaring person who saw fit to drop off the little black and white dog at Missouri 150 and Bynum Road one Sunday morning, if you had stuck around a few minutes you could have seen that bewildered baby scanning every vehicle that passed by hoping in its heart that you would return, only to be disappointed time after time.

You would also have seen several caring people stop to try and rescue that poor thing before it became another dead animal along the roadway.

You were right in your apparent assumption that we country folk are animal lovers and will if possible make a home for your unwanted pet.

The truth is, however, we who want animals already have them. Your callous disregard for that animal’s feelings are reprehensible.

There are a number of animal rescuers in the metropolitan area that would have gladly taken that poor creature and tried to find a decent home for it.

Almost daily, we who travel the highway are treated to a collection of dead animals, some wild and some dumped as was yours, that have been struck by cars.

Shame on you.

Wayne Miller

Lone Jack

Kobach, Obamacare

The Kansas secretary of state has written members of Congress, urging them to affirm a health-care compact that he says would give states a way to exempt themselves from the federal Affordable Care Act.

News stories have said that Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in the letter to 94 Republicans in Congress that authorization of the interstate coalition on health care would give those states authority to regulate health care within their borders and to administer their federal health-care funds.

In 2014, Kansas lawmakers approved a bill to join such a compact. But it requires congressional approval to take effect. Critics say the plan could jeopardize the health care of people who receive other forms of federal health-care benefits, including more than 450,000 seniors in Kansas on Medicare.

Medicare works just fine as a federal program. Kansans should fight this effort.

Kansas cannot manage Medicare as well as the federal government.

John Skelton

Lansing

Brownback’s plan

I do not agree that the budget deficit in Kansas stems from a poor or mistaken economic policy by Gov. Sam Brownback. He knew exactly what the outcome would be.

The governor is an intelligent man. He has to be aware that trickle-down economics is a failed economic policy. Yet he has continued to pursue tax cuts for the wealthy and shifted more of the tax burden to the middle class and the poor through increased sales taxes and reduced mortgage deductions.

Gov. Brownback appears to subscribe to a libertarian philosophy, which favors dismantling the “nanny state” by starving state and local governments of adequate tax money to fund education, public pensions, Medicaid and infrastructure.

Next year, as the deficit grows, Kansans will face some hard choices if they continue to support Brownback’s insistence on his 2012 tax cuts for the wealthy.

Diane Mitchell

Kansas City

Redefining terrorism

Terrorism is a violent statement, meant to strike terror into the hearts of entire groups. The acts of Dylann Roof, F. Glenn Miller Jr. and a huge number of others fall into this category.

And yet our government and the news media mostly reserve the word terrorism for acts committed by Muslims. An example is Chattanooga, Tenn.

Most low-information Americans find the very word terrifying and wildly overestimate their odds of getting killed by Muslim terrorists. It’s considerably more likely that one might be the victim of an American terrorist.

Reserving the word for Muslims leads to unfair hatred of Islam and to our enthusiastic endorsement of war and drone strikes on Muslim countries. This understandably angers Muslims and recruits some to groups bent on vengeance.

It’s time to ponder this effect and rethink the role being played in the branding of Muslims as the terrorists of the world.

Marlen Beach

Kansas City

Climb pay ladder

I am a lifelong Kansas City resident. I voted for Mayor Sly James twice.

I’ve read Mary Sanchez’s columns for years, often disagreeing with her. I don’t own a business, and I get my coffee at McDonald’s every day. I put myself through college by working after school and through the GI bill.

Raising the minimum wage to $13 an hour by Jan. 1, 2020, is a mistake. It will only serve to hold people in menial jobs even longer.

I love the servers I see at McDonald’s every day. My best wish for them is to leave, move on to the next better job.

Raise your pay by advancement, not by raising the minimum wage.

Get out of the rut.

Mary Sanchez is worried about the programs these wonderful young people might lose if the wage went up. Go to school, get an education and get out of the rut.

I worked 40 hours a week and carried a full college load every semester. I was married, and my first son was born while I was in school.

It worked. I spent 42 years with the same company here in Kansas City by moving up, not by protesting for more pay.

Michael J. Callahan

Kansas City

Republican debate

After watching the Republican presidential debate for the second time on Fox follow-up Aug. 9, I discovered what I was looking for.

I decided to take all preconceived impressions of the 10 candidates out of the equation and just go by their answers and demeanor while under fire from the Fox journalists.

Two things stood out to me as far as who was presidential: “a soft answer turns away wrath” and “walk softly but carry a big stick.”

In demeanor and poise, I thought Dr. Ben Carson was a clear winner and Donald Trump was a clear loser.

I came away with the same impression when evaluating which candidates we should trust to lead with intelligence and courage in a time of violence and finger-pointing in our country and the world.

I thought the journalists did as good a job as possible in spreading out the questions and allowing answers to be given, even though they were just a little bit wordy.

Most of the candidates made solid impressions, and I look forward to follow-ups to see whether this first impression holds up.

Calvin Day

Kansas City

Worse than expected

A recent Star letter writer cited a study published in 2015 by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University. The report, “Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition,” placed Kansas 24th among the 50 states.

The writer’s comment was “… (Kansas) is not as destitute like we are being led to believe.” It seems strange that the ranking wouldn’t be lower given Kansas’ dire fiscal condition as witnessed by the past legislative session’s attempts to close a huge deficit.

But wait, a close reading of the report reveals that the data used were from fiscal years ending in 2013. For Kansas, that was from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013, a period preceding the disastrous results of drastic income tax cuts.

I imagine that a reprise of the report using data for the Kansas fiscal year ending on June 30, 2015, would produce a much lower fiscal ranking.